Congress alleges BJP hand in Kh-form drama

There was great panic in the Congress camp on Monday morning following reports that the state election commission (SEC) might cancel the candidature of the party's nominees for the civic polls.
Gujarat Pradesh Congress Committee (GPCC) chief Siddharth Patel and leader of opposition in the state assembly Shaktisinh Gohil immediately called a press conference and alleged that the SEC was acting at the behest of the Narendra Modi government to keep the Congress out of the polls.

Addressing media-persons at the Rajiv Gandhi Bhavan, the two Congress leaders alleged that the state government was trying to strangle democracy in the state by 'using' the SEC in a negative manner.

"The move to have Congress candidates disqualified by a deliberate misinterpretation of the law, shows that the BJP is worried about its poll prospects," said Patel. "The BJP has sensed that people are inclined towards the Congress. That is why the government has conspired to get all Congress candidates disqualified for the civic elections in all the six municipal corporations."

Gohil said the BJP was afraid of losing the polls as the Congress had exposed the state government's "extortionist" ways. He alleged that the state government had put pressure on the SEC to disqualify Congress nominees.

"What the BJP is claiming is not wrong," Gohil said. "It is wrong to say that we should be disqualified because we had submitted the 'Kh' (or B) form only to the returning officer (RO). If candidates had to submit the forms to both the RO and the SEC, why were we not informed?"

The Congress leader said that the RO's handbook, which is the guide for all political parties and candidates in this matter, also says in column '7- 2- Kh' that the 'Kh' form should be submitted only to the RO.

"When we met the SEC officials, we asked them how could the rules be changed when there was no amendment to change the norms?" Gohil said. "No notification has been issued to announce the change. If the rules had been changed, why was no action taken in the gram panchayat and district panchayat elections? Then too Congress candidates had submitted the 'Kh' form only to the RO (and not to both the SEC and the RO)."

Later in the evening, leaders and candidates of the Congress were relieved to hear that the nomination of candidates who had submitted the 'Kh' form only to the RO would also be considered valid.